Identification of Emissions in the Spectrum of Comet C/1989 VI (SkoritchenkoGeorge) Obtained with the 6-m SAO RAS Reflector

The emission spectrum of comet Skoritchenko–George (C/1989 VI), unusual in its information content, was obtained on February 26.7 UT, 1990, with the use of a TV scanner installed on the 6-m BTA reflector of the Special Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS) in Nizhni Arkhyz. Detailed identification of the emission lines of this comet was made. The observed spectrum contains 311 emission lines, including those of the C 2 , C 3 , CN, NH, CH, Na, NH 2 , CO, C , C , CH + , , H 2 O + , and molecules. Among others, the lines of the negative carbon ion and the lines corresponding to the electron transition e 3 Σ – – a 3 Π r in the neutral CO molecule are discovered. The presence of a large number of lines of the neutral CO molecule (the Asundi bands and the triplet bands) in the visible region is one of the uncommon features of the emission spectrum of this comet. The triplet lines d 3 ∆ – a 3 Π r : 15–3, 13–2, 11–2, 9–1, 8–1, 7–1, 7–0, 5–0, 4–0; e 3 Σ – – a 3 Π r : 7–0, 6–0, 5–0; and a ' 3 Σ + – a 3 Π r : 11–1 (K = 3, 4); 16–4 ( K = 0, 1, 2, 4); 9-0 ( K = 0, 1, 2); 8–0 ( K = 0) were identified for the first time. Prior to this work, the lines of CO in the visible range were observed only in the spectrum of comet C/1979 VI (Bradfield) in 1989. O O2 + N2 + C2 –